Dearborn begins by pointing out the importance of selecting the right people to work in the WHO (White House Office). He describes them as the people to whom the President delegates much of his (or her) day-to-day in handling the affairs of the state.

“Choosing who will carry out that agenda on a daily basis is not only one of the first decisions a President makes in office, but also one of the most critical. The tone and tempo of an administration are often determined on January 20.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 56, paragraph 1.)

Dearborn argues that the Chief of Staff is the most critical to implementation of the President’s vision for the country. Trump’s chiefs of staff included Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney (acting), and Mark Meadows.

Some time after the September 29 presidential debate with Joe Biden, Priebus told a friend that Trump called him and acted out a script which included declaring victory prematurely on election night, if it appeared that he was ahead in the ongoing vote count. (Proof that the big lie was premeditated.) There are many sources on that, here’s one of them.¹

Trump pushed Priebus out because he (Trump) didn’t respect Priebus, and pushed Kelly out after their relationship deteriorated to the point that they weren’t speaking.² Kelly later called Trump “the most flawed person he’s ever known”.³ Mulvaney resigned, saying “I can’t do it, I can’t stay.”⁴ “Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in,” Mulvaney said.” (CNBC, January 7, 2021, Amanda Macias.)

Meadows finally proved to be the loyalist Trump always wanted. He is the first White House chief of staff since the Watergate scandal and the first former member of Congress to have been held in contempt of Congress.⁵ Meadows was instrumental in the mishandling of the pandemic⁶, and is currently under multiple indictments⁷, including pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Meadows opposes abortion, voted against renewing the Violence Against Women act, demanded Trump repeal environmental regulations and cut the funding to study climate change, opposes same-sex marriage, opposes ANY restrictions on gun purchases, wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and more. In short, he’s a real prize. /sarcasm

I realize this feels like a digression, but as odious as Mark Meadows is, imagine the kind of people Trump will choose to surround himself with this time around, under the Project 2025 plan to staff the government with loyalists rather than people with any kind of expertise?

Dearborn goes on to detail the chief of staff’s responsibilities. “All senior staff report to the Chief of Staff, either directly or through his two or three deputies, unless the President determines that a particular Assistant to the President reports directly to him.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 56, paragraph 6.)

Dearborn lines out the type of person the next president needs to hire for each WHO position. For example, mentioning that the Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations should ideally be “meticulous and ideally should possess a great deal of command-and-control experience.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 58, paragraph 1.)

On White House Counsel: “While the White House Counsel does not serve as the President’s personal attorney in nonofficial matters, it is almost impossible to delineate exactly where an issue is strictly personal and has no bearing on the President’s official function. The White House Counsel needs to be deeply committed both to the President’s agenda and to affording the President proactive counsel and zealous representation.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 59, paragraph 2.)

He’s making an argument here that the White House Counsel should act as the President’s personal attorney, in the service of the President’s agenda and at the expense of the taxpayer. Dearborn continues:

“The Office of White House Counsel is the first line of defense for the EOP. Its staff must take seriously the duty to protect the powers and privileges of the President from encroachments by Congress, the judiciary, and the administrative components of departments and agencies.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 59, paragraph 3.) EOP is the Executive Office of the President. This is additionally another argument for removing checks and balances from the government and creating a de facto King/Dictator.

Then, he explicitly argues that White House Counsel should be the President’s personal attorney:

“The White House Counsel’s office cannot serve as a finishing school to credential the next set of white-shoe law firm attorneys or federal judges in waiting who cabin their opinions for fear their elite credentials could be tarnished through a policy disagreement. Rather, it should function more as an activist yet ethical plaintiffs’ firm that advocates for its client—the Administration’s agenda—within the limits imposed by the Constitution and the duties of the legal profession.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 59, paragraph 5.)

Dearborn goes on to advocate for circumventing traditional communication between the White House Counsel and the Attorney General:

“Traditionally, both the White House Counsel and the Attorney General have issued a memo requiring all contact between the two institutions to occur only between the Office of White House Counsel and the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General. The next Administration should reexamine this policy and determine whether it might be more efficient or more appropriate for communication to occur through additional channels.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, pages 59-60.)

The reason for the longstanding policy that limits communication between the White House and the Department of Justice (DOJ) is because it maintains clear lines of accountability and prevents inappropriate or politicized influence on the DOJ by the White House. Changing this policy would politicize (or weaponize) the DOJ in a very literal sense, as well as undermine the independence of the DOJ. Moreover, if you have more people involved in the communication chain, you’re diluting responsibility and making it more difficult to track who is responsible for specific decisions or actions.

“When a new President takes office, he will need to decide expeditiously how to handle any major ongoing litigation or other pending legal matters that might present a challenge to his agenda.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 60, paragraph 2.)

Well, holy shit, if that ain’t a smoking gun. This is 100% an admission that if Trump wins, he’ll simply pardon himself for all of the crimes he has both been convicted of and/or is currently under indictment for, and close any investigations into himself and his cronies, effectively making himself/his government above the law. He even includes considering reversing any legal decisions they don’t like:

“To offer guidance, the White House Counsel must get up to speed as quickly as possible on all significant ongoing legal challenges across the executive branch that might affect the new Administration’s policy agenda and must be prepared at the outset of the Administration to present recommendations to the President, including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 60, paragraph 2.)

On who the President should choose as White House Counsel: “Instead of choosing a specialist, the President should hire a counsel with extensive experience with a wide range of complex legal subjects. Moreover, while a candidate with elite credentials might seem ideal, the best one will be above all loyal to the President and the Constitution.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 60, paragraph 4.)

Dearborn goes on to praise Reagan’s “personnel is policy” axiom, and remarks, regarding who the PPO (Presidential Personnel Office) should hire, “Although its focus should be identifying and recruiting leaders to fill the approximately 1,000 appointments that require Senate confirmation, PPO must also fill approximately 3,000 political jobs that require dedicated conservatives to support the Administration’s political leadership.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 63, paragraph 7.) Staffing the country with loyalists is a central tenet of their plan, and they argue for it over, and over again.

On the OPL (Office of Public Liaison) and manipulating public opinion: “The OPL is critically important in building coalitions and support for the President’s agenda across every aligned social, faith-based, minority, and economic interest group. It is a critical tool for shaping public opinion and keeping myriad supporters, as well as “frenemies” and opponents alike who are within reach, better informed.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 66, paragraph 7.)

“…incoming policy councils will need to move rapidly to lead policy processes around cross-cutting agency topics, including countering China, enforcing immigration laws, reversing regulatory policies in order to promote energy production, combating the Left’s aggressive attacks on life and religious liberty, and confronting “wokeism” throughout the federal government.” (Project 2025, Section 1.1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, page 70, paragraph 2.)